11 Jan
2004
11 Jan
'04
10:17 a.m.
Witchy <witchy(a)binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
Also, if it's looking for a cluster then shut it
down to get to the
dead-sergeant prompt (>>>) and type SET VAXCLUSTER 0 to turn off the
clustering software.
The console ROM has no such command. The ROM knows nothing about VMS and
clusters.
MS
11 Jan
11 Jan
12:38 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Michael Sokolov
Sent: 11 January 2004 21:17
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: RE: Egregious VMS newbie questions
Witchy <witchy(a)binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
Do you have a VAX that doesn't know about clusters? Of course the ROM knows
about VMS and clusters! It's a bloody VAX! I don't suppose you'll remember
all the talking when Alpha VMS was released and people wondered whether the
Alpha firmware would expect VMSCLUSTER instead of VAXCLUSTER?
I spent 18 years working with VAXen and Alphas so I suspect I might know
what I'm talking about.
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
Also, if it's looking for a cluster then shut
it down to get to the
dead-sergeant prompt (>>>) and type SET VAXCLUSTER 0 to turn off the
clustering software.
The console ROM has no such command. The ROM knows nothing about VMS and
clusters. 
1:17 p.m.
Do you have a VAX that doesn't know about
clusters? Of course
the ROM knows about VMS and clusters! It's a bloody VAX! I
don't suppose you'll remember all the talking when Alpha VMS
was released and people wondered whether the Alpha firmware
would expect VMSCLUSTER instead of VAXCLUSTER?
I spent 18 years working with VAXen and Alphas so I suspect I
might know what I'm talking about.
You should never post when a Red Dwarf re-run is on :-)
The console knows nothing about anything really.
If you have OpenVMS on the disk you can boot it such that
it will dawdle in SYCONFIG (or rather, an almost-equivalent)
and have a chat with you and that's where you would
twiddle VAXCLUSTER and friends.
Antonio
--
---------------
Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org
1:16 p.m.
On Sun, 11 Jan 2004, Michael Sokolov wrote:
Witchy <witchy(a)binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
VAXen that were part of a cluster *can* have an NVRAM setting that
tells them their node ID, which they need to correctly address the
(shared) system disks... this happens a lot with shared-DSSI clusters.
I cant remember what the name of the setting was.
--f
--
Fred N. van Kempen, DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) Collector/Archivist
Visit the VAXlab Project at http://VAXlab.pdp11.nl/
Visit the Archives at http://www.pdp11.nl/
Email: waltje(a)pdp11.nl BUSSUM, THE NETHERLANDS / Mountain View, CA, USA
Also, if it's looking for a cluster then shut
it down to get to the
dead-sergeant prompt (>>>) and type SET VAXCLUSTER 0 to turn off the
clustering software.
The console ROM has no such command. The ROM knows nothing about VMS and
clusters.
12 Jan
12 Jan
1:37 p.m.
VAXen that were part of a cluster *can* have an NVRAM
setting
that tells them their node ID, which they need to correctly
address the
(shared) system disks... this happens a lot with shared-DSSI clusters.
I no longer have my VAX 4000s to check with but I
don't remember having to tell their consoles that. I did
use the console to talk to the DSSI disks and set their
node parameters and it *might* be possible to set the
corresponding DSSI parameters for a VAX 4000 node
(although I don't remember either doing that or being
able to do it).
I cant remember what the name of the setting was.
ALLOCLASS is the SYSGEN setting that determines the
number you see in front of disks (so my VAXstation
here has ALLOCLASS set to 42 and its disks are
$42$DKA0: etc.)
Antonio
--
---------------
Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org
13 Jan
13 Jan
2:05 a.m.
SBP (See Below, Please ;-)
Antonio Carlini wrote:
To me, the remark about shared system disks sounds more like the number
in SYSn (the first-level directory in the SYS$SYSROOT path on the system
disk) that is unique for each cluster member.
This number is passed from the console software to the operating system
as a single number (32 bit in /R5:<n> for a VAX, 64 bits as -flags
<root>,<flags> for an Alpha). The mechanism of passing the number does
not depend on the operating system (Unix on Alpha uses it as well as VMS
does), but the meaning that is assigned to each bit depends on the
operating system.
For VAX/VMS, the high-order four bits in processor register R5 determine
the SYSn, while the low-order bits specify boot options such as
conversational bootstrap, inhibit memory test etc.
For OpenVMS/AXP, the <root> argument specifies the SYSn, and the <flags>
do the remaining part.
How the information is stored in nonvolatile memory, in turn, depends on
the hardware. Some VAXen - an 8600 comes to my mind - even have a
frontend processor, which in this case happens to be a PDP-11 running
RT-11 or something very similar. Since the PDP-11 has its own file
system on a console medium (RL02 in this case), it can comfortably store
boot command files to specify all desired options.
Since there are differences between processors, there is nothing like a
single name for the parameter that specifies the system root. The VAX
8600 has the PDP front end processor, a VAX 6xx0 would have NVRAM
holding complete boot strings, Alphas have the BOOT_OSFLAGS variable
that serves as a default for the BOOT command. Just a few examples that
I had the honor of laying my hands on so far.
The ALLOCLASS comes in when SYSBOOT has gained access to the SYSGEN
parameters (very early in the course of a VMS boot), and indeed it is
one of the parameters that control device naming. At this time, however,
the system root must already be fixed, since the exact location from
which SYSBOOT.EXE is loaded also depends on the root and might be node
specific in a cluster.
Andreas
--
Andreas Freiherr
Vishay Semiconductor GmbH, Heilbronn, Germany
http://www.vishay.com
>VAXen that were part of a cluster *can* have an
NVRAM setting
>that tells them their node ID, which they need to correctly
>address the
>(shared) system disks... this happens a lot with shared-DSSI clusters.
...
I cant remember
what the name of the setting was.
ALLOCLASS is the SYSGEN setting that determines the
number you see in front of disks (so my VAXstation
here has ALLOCLASS set to 42 and its disks are
$42$DKA0: etc.)
Antonio 
22 Jan
22 Jan
4:24 p.m.
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In northern NJ, near to Morristown:
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Tape drive: model Exp-1 (6" x 4" cartridge, 1/4 inch tape)
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Tarsi
7488
days inactive
7499
days old
6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Andreas.Freiherr＠Vishay.com -
arcarlini＠iee.org -
msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG -
tarsi＠binhost.com -
waltje＠pdp11.nl -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk